Confession Time

All right. I admit it! I can't hide it any longer.

My kids are picky eaters.

There...I said it.

It's true! Oh, they don't demand peanut butter and jelly every night of the week or require their sandwiches cut into specific shapes (although they used to) or even refuse to touch anything green! But they have preferences when it comes to food and they make those known in quiet, brooding ways.

I used to say they weren't really picky, they were just purists when it came to food. They will eat potatoes but not gravy, pasta... with no sauce please and even salad, hold the dressing. The Professor's favorite meal out is a kid's rib basket sans BBQ sauce. You might think that's a punishable offense in Texas, but it isn't.

They had always been good about eating their vegetables provided I didn't try to do something insane like mix them with chicken and bake them in a light flaky crust. (I know that technically, eating plain vegetables and lean meats, mostly raw without any heavy cream sauces is actually very healthy, but it sure makes for boring, uncreative menus for this chief cook and bottle washer!) And I could usually force convince them to try new foods with minimal bribery incentives. Until one of them who shall remain nameless to protect her self esteem decided that "eat your vegetables" meant lick them and hide them under the bread crusts. This quiet disobedience came at its own price when the guilty party had some "digestive issues" that resulted in a trip to the pediatrician.

So what's a Mom to do? I want them to eat healthy. I want them to make healthy food choices. But I also just want to get those vegetables down their throats so that I can check it off the All-Good-Moms-Do-This-List in my brain.

Wash behind their ears? Check.
Change their underwear? Check.
Eat their veggies? Check

So... I hide the veggies. Mostly just the ones they consider odd.

But they seem to like them hidden. Should I feel bad about that? Probably. Do I think that Zucchini Bread is a perfect substitute for the vitamins and fiber of a crisp, crunchy zucchini? No. But that will have to be OK for now.

Here are some of the ways I bury the veggies and please let me know if you have anymore:

• Zucchini can be hidden in any sort of quick bread. I have two different recipes. One recipe has poppy seeds but it is vaguely reminiscent of corn bread and not as sweet as the Chocolate Zucchini bread my kids love! Does the vegetable even count if it is surrounded by chocolate? Never mind...I don't want to know.
  
• I have a bran muffin recipe that calls for raisins or prunes. I have re-hydrated them with hot water and pureed them just like in this recipe for Orange Bran Muffins. I know prunes and raisins aren't veggies, but they are good for the digestion.
• Sweet potatoes are great in a muffin like this one.
• It wasn't until I found a recipe like the one above that I even thought to do the same to carrot muffins. Instead of shredding the carrots like most recipes call for, I cook them and mash them. Actually, carrots are the one unanimous vegetable favorite around here and they prefer them raw, but Husband and I love carrot bread, muffins, cake, etc... In my children's eyes cooking a carrot is like dipping it in Castor oil first.
  
• A personal favorite around here is butternut squash. Oh, they just eat it up like crazy.... when I mix it with mashed potatoes, that is. I substitute butternut squash for half of the potatoes that you would use to make you favorite mashed potato recipe or check out this one instead.

Seriously, if you have any other suggestions feel free to post them here or if your kids are like mine...feel free to rant. My kids would appreciate it (and so would I)!